The Rio de Janeiro City Hall and the steel company Ternium announced a partnership for the structural remodeling of the Ernani de Paiva Ferreira Braga Family Clinic in Santa Cruz.
The company has committed to invest R$ 2.5 million for the execution of the works, which are scheduled to start in March. The clinic operates as a basic healthcare unit and has the capacity to perform 6,300 medical appointments per month. It also has 29,497 people registered, mainly residents of the Santa Cruz, Paciência and Sepetiba neighborhoods in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro.
The space will also be used to monitor people infected by COVID-19 and as a vaccination center for the region's population.
“We supported the City Hall with hospital equipment and COVID-19 tests. Now, we are going to remodel a family clinic that will be an important vaccination center. Our investment with the City Hall against COVID-19 reached R$ 8.5 million,” states Marcelo Chara, president of Ternium in Brazil, adding that the contribution was made following the strategy defined by the public power.
At the beginning of February, Ternium signed a partnership with the Municipal Health Secretariat of Rio de Janeiro for the donation of 10,000 antigen tests for COVID-19.
The tests, acquired from Abbott Laboratories (United States), comply with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards, and the results are obtained within up to 20 minutes. The first batch with 5,000 units was delivered to the Secretariat on February 5th.
The second batch will be delivered in the next few days. The kits were sent to the basic healthcare units of Santa Cruz.
Fernanda Candeias, Ternium Community Relations Manager, detailed the initiatives developed with the City Hall to support the population of Santa Cruz. More than R$ 5 million in equipment, ventilators, monitors, and pumps were donated to the Pedro II and Ronaldo Gazolla hospitals, where Ternium helped set up 25 ICU beds for the care of COVID-19 victims. Basic healthcare units in Santa Cruz and the region also received more than 54,000 personal protection items such as masks, gloves, face shields, and alcohol gel.
“The remodeling of the Ernani de Paiva Ferreira Braga Family Clinic is one more action by Ternium to support the population of Santa Cruz in the fight against the pandemic due to the new coronavirus, as well as the legacy we will leave to the region after the pandemic,” stated Fernanda Candeias.